Microprocessor controlled printers are known for printing symbols wherein the pixel data defining each symbol is stored in a memory at addressable locations. Where the data input to the printer for selecting a symbol to be printed is different from the addresses at which the symbol is stored in the printer's memory, a look-up table is conventionally used. The look-up table converts the input data to the actual addresses used to access the data from the printer's symbol memory. When the symbol memory stores vast amounts of data, however, the look-up table needed to address the symbol pixel data can become prohibitively large.
For example, a standardized set of Japanese symbols, Kanji characters, has been developed. This standardized set utilizes an array of 94 rows.times.94 columns in which the symbols of the set are arranged. Each symbol in the set is identified by a pair of coded words representing the row and column at which the symbol is stored in the 94.times.94 array. The coded words are referred to as JIS (Japanese Industrial Specification) words and are used as standardized input data to various devices for identifying Kanji characters in the standardized set. Memory devices storing pixel data defining each symbol in the standardized set of Kanji characters have been developed. These memory devices store in excess of 1,000,000 eight bit bytes of information. Further, the addresses for accessing the pixel data for a given Kanji character stored in the memory devices are different from the JIS code words identifying the symbol. The look-up table necessary to convert the JIS words to addresses for accessing all of the pixel data in the Kanji character memory devices would be extremely large preventing the use of a microprocessor with limited memory space.